State Fair Fun is On the Way!

Free condoms, free buttons, and a whole lot of important information: it’s almost that time of year again, time for the great New York State Fair! Beginning on August 23rd, the fairgrounds (located in Syracuse, NY) will be filled with people from all walks of life enjoying the hundreds of attractions that the Fair has to offer. Of course, the attraction that should be on the top of your list is visiting the Planned Parenthood booth in the Center of Progress building. Let me tell you why. 

As a native of Syracuse, NY, I have been attending the Fair for as long as I can remember- Planned Parenthood themselves have been seen at the Fair for decades. Throughout those years my experience of the fair has transformed. The days of showing up with a group of hoodlum friends dressed in band tee-shirts and neon knee-socks have passed. And, I admit, it’s nice to no longer attend just to ride as many rides as I can with some boy I met at the homecoming game. As I have grown up, my vision of the Fair has grown up, but two things have stayed constant throughout time: eating as much Fair food as I possibly can, and always visiting the Planned Parenthood booth. Whether it was to get cool buttons for my L.L. Bean monogrammed backpack, or today, to pick up pamphlets and contact cards- and let’s be real, free condoms- the Planned Parenthood booth has always been a favorite of mine.

So, it’s fitting that during the last summer I will ever enjoy (after graduation, POOF there goes what’s known as a “real” summer vacation) I get to spend a few days working at the very booth I have come to know and love. I’ll be at the Planned Parenthood booth from 10AM to 4PM September 1st-3rd, and it’s overwhelming just thinking about the things I will encounter. It’s inevitable that I’ll feel a touch of nostalgia when people stop to pick up some free stuff, but I’m really looking forward to engaging in meaningful conversations with those who have had life-changing experiences thanks to the work of Planned Parenthood. I’m positive that there are many.

My dad, as well as many other adult figures in my life, always told me “you learn something new every day”. No matter what kind of information it is, you have more knowledge than you did the day before. Being informed and equipped with knowledge is the best way to assure that you are ready for anything that life throws your way. Visiting the Planned Parenthood booth at the New York State Fair has always acted as a great source of knowledge for me, and has had a great impact on my decision making skills. So please, come visit me this year as I have my own turn at spreading the knowledge Planned Parenthood has to offer!

Photo courtesy of www.nysfair.org

Elise
Marketing Intern

"Meet Planned Parenthood" Series: Rick Bartell

For almost 19 years, Rick Bartell has been making sure the Planned Parenthood educational programs are alive and in working order. As the Director of Education and Outreach, Rick oversees the non-clinical programs such as Rape Crisis Service, In Control, and Real Life. Real Talk.

In addition, Rick makes sure that there are educators out in the communities and in schools talking to kids and teens about sex education. These are services our society needs more than anything. Today, America is on par with third world countries when it comes to birth rates and sexual health education. Although this is now known as fact, members of our nation still refuse to talk about it, let alone do something to reverse it. Rick is seen through my eyes as what today’s “model citizen” should act like; doing everything in his power to get the job done and to serve the community with the best of his ability, no matter what.

Rick is first and foremost a creator. He didn’t waste any time after joining the Planned Parenthood team; within his first two years In Control was set into motion. In Control is a teen pregnancy prevention program, and also one of Rick’s most fulfilling accomplishments.

Today, In Control has grown into a thriving community of urban youths and is recognized as “Rochester’s most official teen program.” At In Control, teens have the chance to get involved in something they love, whether it’s fashion, music, or art, and will also receive accurate information about sexuality, abstinence and birth control.

The program site serves as a place where teens can talk openly and honestly about sex and relationships in a supportive atmosphere. There is a strong emphasis on education within the program, as students set goals for themselves, have access to tutoring and are even taken on local and national college tours! The individual programs at In Control are designed to increase self-esteem, confidence and leadership skills among youth, while at the same time uplifting lifting our community as a whole.

It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, this place is real, and they know the secret to success; it doesn’t matter what background one comes from, but rather how motivated one is to use the tools they are given. It matters whether or not a role model is present in a teens’ life, not how much money a family has to send them to college. For kids and teens involved in the program, living in an urban community is no longer a disadvantage. They know it doesn’t matter where they are from or what material possessions they have or don’t have, because In Control will meet them where they are - whether it be in their home, on the street or inside the classroom.

This is only a sneak peek into the work that Rick Bartell does for our Community. On a daily basis, he tackles the issue of talking about sexual health from all angles. In fact, if he had one important thing to get across to our society it would be to “not be so repressed when it comes to talking about sexual health.”

When outside of the work environment, Rick enjoys gardening, writing and literature. It’s easy to see why, when he creates and helps to grow so many positive parts of Rochester’s young community

-Elise
PPRSR Intern

Adventures in Sex City: Can a video game be a Sex-Ed tool?

Though it wasn’t terribly long ago, I can only remember what my sexual education consisted of when I think really, really, hard. I do not even recall any health education classes before high school, and I think this might be due to the fact that I found the whole process of sitting in a classroom, full of my peers, while my crazy teacher held up and pointed out different forms of birth control, terribly uncomfortable and embarrassing.

However, that is basically all my health class covered in relation to sex. Our teacher held up, explained, and passed around a box full of different forms of contraception. We were then required to fill out a worksheet about them, and subsequently quizzed on the varying effectiveness percentages and who they were best suitable for. Sex may have been covered for maybe a week of class time if I round up…and to be honest I do not think anyone absorbed any of the material. This may be due to numerous reasons but personally, I think it is because it was treated as a taboo topic…even in our health class!

The teacher even seemed to be slightly embarrassed to be holding condoms in front of her 15 year-old students…so how could we not exude the uncomfortable feelings right back to her? Because of this mutual uncomfortable-ness, there was no interactive learning whatsoever in this class. There were no discussions prompted, or questions asked, or any sort of interactive learning tactics used at all. In my opinion, interactive learning is most important to keep the message you are teaching stuck in a student’s brain. That, along with connecting it to a way the students will care about it and feel comfortable learning about it, is vital.

The UK seems to have recognized this as well and has come up with a virtual video game to help spread important messages about sex. Adventures in Sex City, created by the UK's Middlesex-London Health Unit, uses characters like The Sperminator, Wonder Vag, and Willy the Kid to engage teens to learn important sexual facts.

Though at first glance I was extremely skeptical, as I delved further into the material and got a sample glance of some of the characters and messages displayed, I started to think that this was genius. Why had someone not come up with a sex-ed video game sooner? Pre-teens and teenagers are notorious of being glued to their computer screens and video game consoles…so of course a video game would get their attention! Topics from abstinence, condoms, STIs to virginity were all covered in the preview that I saw. Though some may think the idea is cheesy, I think it would have definitely gotten my peers’ attention more than the textbook we were forced to read, and the irrelevant facts we were supposed to memorize in my high school.

Hopefully some companies will expand on this idea and bring it over to the States. Though I think the game can be improved to not be so silly and ridiculous, it is a great starting point….and is undoubtedly more entertaining than the old textbooks and sex-ed movies I was forced to sit uncomfortabley through as an adolescent. Hopefully these new interactive video games will save future health class goers from the same health class experiences I had to endure.

"The Pregnancy Pact"

This past Saturday night started off with the intentions of having a simple, relaxing night spent watching a movie with some girlfriends. However, it soon turned into us engaging in somewhat heated discussions over the contents of the movie we were watching. What were we watching you ask? Surprisingly, it was a Lifetime movie that got us all riled up.

Lifetime’s newest “inspired by true events” creation, “The Pregnancy Pact”, premiered last Saturday night at 9:00 pm. The movie followed four teenage girls at a high school in Gloucester, Massachusetts who all become pregnant at the age of fifteen. When the number of pregnant girls at their high school spikes to an astonishing 18, media from all over the nation start to focus on this tiny town. Even more controversy starts to arise when rumors surface that the pregnant girls made a pact to all become pregnant at the same time. Throw in the mother of the main character (pregnant 15 year old Sara’s) who believes in “abstinence-only education”, and Lifetime has quite the drama.

Most of the movie was inspired, not based-on, the 2008 events that occurred in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Though the movie portrays four of the pregnant girls making a pact, none of the real life pregnant Gloucester girls ever admitted to such a pact.

As my friends and I watched the movie, we found ourselves using each commercial break to discuss how irritated we were with the movie. The first thing that immediately got our attention was the immaturity, and seemingly-naivety of the girls who were getting pregnant. Whether this came from the abstinence-only education that their school system firmly believed in, or the way the director wanted these characters to be portrayed, we felt they had no idea how their decision to get pregnant was going to affect them and everyone around them for the rest of their lives. Though this clueless-ness continued throughout most of the movie, the last ten minutes showed the girls coming to the realization of what they had done and the consequences. Everything from the thought of adoption, financial strains, to losing a high-school love was shown as a consequence, and rightfully so.

While we could not come to a conclusion on how we exactly felt about this movie, the fact remains that it gets people to think about the topic of teen pregnancy. Overall, this movie can be used as a great tool for mothers and daughters to open the lines of communication about pregnancy, sex and birth control. I’m confident that no mother that has seen this movie wants to be put in the situation of Sara’s, who firmly believed that her daughter Sara believed in abstinence and was not having sex, only to be completely misinformed when 15 year-old Sara announces she is pregnant. After seeing that miscommunication, I think every mother with a daughter would want to sit her daughter down and watch this with her.

While the actions and thoughts of the movies’ teen girls are more than often very questionable, by the end of the movie I believe a strong message was put forth that teen pregnancy is a serious issue facing the entire nation, and is not something that should be accepted or ignored. Communication, education, and prevention were all ways the movie highlighted on how to deal with this issue, and overall, I believe Lifetime did a good job bringing teen pregnancy to the forefront of many families’ minds.

Being Honest About Sex When Teaching Kids

I first heard about this new sex-ed approach happening in the UK from Jenna, PPRSR's Education and Outreach specialist, who provided an article that you can link to through the title of this entry.

But, here's the gist for you: the Center for HIV and Sexual Health at NHS Sheffield published a booklet on talking with youth about sex and sexual pleasure.

Wow! I think this is great. The booklet promotes masturbation, age-appropriate attention to anatomy (i.e. not just talking about vaginas but also the clitoris), breaking traditional views of sex (i.e. sex=penetration), and condom use. I think that this type of sex-ed can help foster dialogue among young people about sex and make it more comfortable for them to talk about sex with each other and their partners.

As Simon Blake, cheif executive of the young people's sexual health charity Brook, says "We need to do more to find out why people are so afraid to talk about sexual pleasure."

Furthermore, Roger Ingham, professor of health psychology at the University of Southampton's Center for Sexual Health Research, says that countries who approach education about sex and relationships in a more open and positive way have much better sexual health outcomes.

So let's hear it for sex-positive, honest, open discussion. Horay!